NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Starboard Value more than tripled its stake in class A shares of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in the first quarter, according to a securities filing on Wednesday.

At the end of March, Starboard held roughly 6 million class A shares in the media empire, or $156 million, versus 1.7 million shares in December.

The hedge fund also held 8.7 million class B shares in News Corp in March, the same amount as of December.

In October, Reuters said Starboard had bought shares of News Corp to call for change in Murdoch's company. Later, Starboard Value's CEO Jeff Smith said the media empire should consider spinning off some of its assets to unlock value.

Class A shares in News Corp are up roughly 6% this year.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York Editing by Chris Reese)